Abbie Hoffman Remembered

June 11, 1989|by SCOTT BIEBER, The Morning Call

On a sunlit bank above the rain-swollen Delaware River where he staged his last battle, about 700 people, including famous political radicals from the 1960's, memorialized Abbie Hoffman yesterday with songs and firebrand speeches.

About 20 Vietnam veterans protested at the entrance to Washington Crossing State Park with signs denouncing the event. Police reported no violence between the two groups.

"We are here to celebrate a man who ridiculed the worst aspects of American life," said William Kunstler, the aging, long-haired lawyer who defended Hoffman and other political agitators a generation ago. "Unlike others, he never stopped."

"Abbie is dead. Long Live Abbie," Kunstler shouted has he thrust his fist into the air and walked off the stage.

Members of the audience, most of them sitting on blankets in the warm sun, cheered and applauded. They ranged in age from children to senior citizens. Many had long, partly graying hair, while others wore T-shirts with political slogans and peace signs.

"It's sort of like the march on Washington all over again," said Greg Horback, 38, of Jackson, N.J., sitting in a lawn chair on the grass with his thinning hair pulled back into a short ponytail. He was referring to the anti- Vietnam War demonstration in the nation's capital that he said he attended 20 years ago.

Former political radicals Bobby Seale and Bernadine Dohrn, anti- establishmen t poet Allen Ginsberg and musician Richie Havens were among the numerous social critics and musicians who took the stage to pay tribute to Hoffman, the former Chicago 7 defendant who authorities say committed suicide with a drug-overdose April 12 in his Solebury Township apartment.

The event was called "Steal This Picnic," a play on the title of a book Hoffman wrote called "Steal This Book." The memorial was organized by Del- Aware Unlimited, a group that tried to stop the construction of the Point Pleasant water diversion project on the Delaware River several years ago. They recruited Hoffman, a founder of the Youth International Party in the 1960's, to attract publicity to their cause and also to learn about political demonstrating.

"It's a tremendous success," said event organizer Tracy Carluccio. She had predicted about 200 people would attend. "I think the turn-out proves that Abbie made his mark in Bucks County. And now we hope the people will become involved in the issues discussed today and carry Abbie's spirit into the 90s."

Several speakers linked Hoffman's spirit to the pro-democracy demonstrations in China. "He belonged in Tiananmen Square," shouted Dohrn, a former Leader of the Students for a Democratic Society who hid from U.S. authorities for 11 years. She is now a mother and childrens rights lawyer in Chicago.

Hoffman "probably had more in common with George Washington" than the event protesters, she said.

Seale, a co-founder of the Black Panthers in the 1960's and a fellow Chicago 7 defendant, talked about the need to stop the cutting of the world's tropical rain forest that is promoted by greedy capitalists.

"I didn't know if I'd belong here," said 23-year-old college student Mary Larkin of Morrisville, as she sat on a blanket with her boyfriend. "But I wanted to be here to be around people who believe in the same things I do."

Kunstler, who is still practicing law at 70, said he was enthused by the combination of young and old. "To me, it's a very favorable sign." he said. "There is a lot of life left in the movement of the 60s. I haven't seen it for a long time. And this is the 20th anniversary of Woodstock, which is very interesting."

Not all the Vietnam veterans were protesting the event. "I came to see Richie Havens," said Terrence Dunbeavy, 40, of Philadelphia, as he sat in a lawn chair next to his girlfriend. "And I liked what Abbie stood for, even though I was in Vietnam at the time. I was unhappy to be there. (Hoffman) was right, when you think about it."

Carluccio started off the speeches by saying that after Hoffman died, public revolts for democracy and freedom started in China, Poland and other places.

Black poet Lamont Step Toe, wearing his hair in long dreadlocks, read poems about going to Vietnam, which he described as fighting a racist war against yellow-skinned people while his own people back home were being discriminated against. He also cursed big business and the generals.

Havens' high tempo guitar music was the most popular part of the day. Outside the celebration area, several anti-nuclear and environmentalist groups and the Revolutionary Communist Party of the USA set up tables to distribute pamphlets.

Steve Gottshall of Bucks County, one of the demonstrators, said "I don't care if they memorialize Abbie Hoffman. But not here." He said the nation's first unknown soldiers, who died when Washington was preparing to cross the Delaware to attack the British, are buried at the park. He said Hoffman was "nothing but an anarchist."